Worst Rental Car in the Whole World

[Ed Kellock]

Working on contract in NZ in 1998, I was provided a "lease car" which
was about a 1991 Camry.  Total POS.

The Mistu Lancer I had in Atlanta a couple years ago was close.  It
was newer with fewer miles, but I had to drive up to Greenville in it
and it was not fun.

A Dodge Neon a few years back was pretty sucky.

The Focus I had in LA once really impressed me.

The Volvo 850 I rented in Boston back in 1994 that I drove up Mt
Washinton _really_ impressed me.  Very good seats and that thing
shifted agressively and smoothly.

My best rental car story is the Cadillac Sedan de Ville I rented in
'91.  Had it 3 weeks, put almost 7k miles on it.  Hydrolocked the
engine in high water in LaCrosse, WI.  Flatbedded it to the local
dealer (after stupidly calling Budget... rented the car in California
;-).   Two hours later I was presented a bill for $126.  They drained
the oil (and the gallon or two of water), replaced the oil/fuel
filters and spark plugs and it was good to go.  All on the spur of the
moment.  I was very impressed with Lau/Burg Motors in LaCrosse.  I
later learned they are an Audi dealer too when I lived nearby in NE
Iowa.

Ed

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:27:15 -0400, Mike Arman <armanmik at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> >NAC - a Toyota Corolla question
> >To: "'Igor Kessel'" <kbattpo at verizon.net>
> >Cc: 'Audi Q-list' <quattro at audifans.com>, 'Audi S-list'
> ><s-car-list at audifans.com>
> >Message-ID: <000b01c47573$9224f180$0400a8c0 at TAKA1>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> >Igor-
> >I'm very surprised that you thought the Focus was superior
> >ergonomically and dynamically. My last time in a Focus (about
> >a 4-day rental) was pretty horrible-
> 
> >Although it had a much cheaper and tinnier feel, the Hyundai Elantra
> >I drove a couple months ago had better ergonomics and better
> >steering feel than the Focus.
> >Taka
> 
> Since things seem to be pretty quiet on the busted Audi front right now,
> howzabout we compare stories of the "Worst Rental Car in the Whole World"?
> We can spare the bandwidth for the laughs . . .
> 
> My nomination is a one year old Daewoo Racer (yeah, right) I rented on
> Anguilla a few years ago - a maroon 4 door econobox, automatic, had 30,000
> KMs (!) on it and it was absolutely ready for the scrapyard. Tranny
> wouldn't shift, it smoked, brakes sucked, multiple rattles and bangs, doors
> wouldn't close. To be fair, the roads on Anguilla are not the best, but
> still, after only 30,000 kms, to be junk?
> 
> Runner up is a Laverda-built Mini-Moke I rented on St. Barts. Basically a
> cement trough with a stolen shopping cart wheel on each corner, plus a BMC
> 750 cc 4 cylinder engine - and absolutely NO dashboard or steering wheel
> padding at all, and the seatbelt retractors corroded stuck. I guess if
> disaster looms, you should evidently just bail out and take your chances
> that way . . . take your Superman cape, the one from Wal-Mart with the
> label on it that says "Caution, garment does not enable user to fly."
> 
> Best Regards,
> Mike Arman